I4i's victory in its patent infringement case against Microsoft
was a slap in the face for the Redmond juggernaut. Not only did
a judge order $290M
USD in damages be awarded to i4i for Microsoft's violation of its
XML patents, but it also ordered Microsoft to stop
selling Word, in its current form, until a final verdict is
reached. Word currently uses the Office
Open XML (OOXML) format, which infringes on i4i's patent.

As
the days roll by and Microsoft's 60-day compliance windows closes,
the company is pleading with courts to lift the injunction. It
says that if the injunction is not lifted it will likely be forced to
stop selling Microsoft
Office for several months.

Writes Microsoft's
defense team, "Microsoft and its distributors face the imminent
possibility of a massive disruption in their sales. If left
undisturbed, the district court’s injunction will inflict
irreparable harm on Microsoft by potentially keeping the centerpiece
of its product line out of the market for months. The injunction
would block not only the distribution of Word, but also of the entire
Office suite, which contains Word and other popular programs."

Some
are puzzled, though, as to why Microsoft would stop selling Office,
rather than simply changes it file format and distinguishing between
the current and XML-less editions. States Barry Negrin, a
partner with the New York firm Pryor Cashman LLP who has practiced
patent and trademark law for 17 years, "All Microsoft has to do
is disable the custom XML feature, which should be pretty easy to do,
then give that a different SKU number from what’s been sold so it’s
easy to distinguish the two versions."

In the unlikely
event that Microsoft does indeed carry through on its claim to stop
selling Office, it could prove a headache for consumers and
businesses, who rely on the software's functionality. However,
light-weight alternatives such as Open Office 3 (which nears Office
2007 in functionality) and Google Docs could get a brief boost if
Microsoft Office disappeared for several months -- a prospect that
has some excited.